1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a feeding apparatus and an image forming apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, recent image forming apparatuses, such as a copier, a printer, and a fax machine, include a feeding cassette that is detachably attached to an apparatus main body and accommodates sheets.
There is one type of the feeding cassette including a stacking plate that can be raised and lowered and presses stacked sheets against a feeding roller. A feeding cassette, discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2012-56670, is provided with a slidable trailing edge regulating member. The trailing edge regulating member regulates a position of a trailing edge of sheets, which is stacked on the stacking plate, in a feeding direction. Thus, sheets of different sizes can be used. The feeding cassette, discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2012-56670, is further provided with a slidable side end regulating member pair. The side end regulating member pair regulates the side end positions of sheets, which is stacked on the stacking plate, in a direction (hereinafter, referred to as a width direction) orthogonal to the feeding direction.
However, the configuration discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2012-56670 has the following problem. Specifically, when the feeding cassette is inserted into the image forming apparatus in a state where an amount of sheets stacked on the stacking plate is equal to or more than a full stacked amount (equal to or more than a predetermined amount), a pickup roller might come into contact with the uppermost sheet during the inserting operation, due to an insufficient distance between the pickup roller and the uppermost sheet on the stacking plate.
When the stacking plate comes into contact with the uppermost sheet during the inserting operation of the feeding cassette, the uppermost sheet and the adjacent sheet stop on an upstream side in the insertion direction of the feeding cassette (front side), and thus are not set at proper positions. If a feeding operation of sheet is performed in this state, the position of an image with respect to the sheet might be deviated, and a paper jam might occur due to collision of the sheet with a guide and the like on a conveyance path.